Illuminate
by Reincarnations
Summary: The story of how Lumina was born and how she died.
1. Chapter 1

**_This is just a random idea I had when I beat Lightning Returns._**

**_So I made the thought into a story!_**

**_Disclaimer-I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or its sequels._**

* * *

_It was strange, hearing our friends talk about a girl name Lumina whom causes mischief while helping others. A devil child, they called her. Always pulling dangerous pranks. Doesn't she remind you of someone you once knew? __Maybe you've forgotten. I have because you told me to._

* * *

It was a few years before the gang were turned into l'Cie. In fact, it was before the Farron sister's parents died. Their father was a soldier working under the Guardian Corps, while their mother was a teacher. At the time Serah was only three years old while Claire was six.

Anyways on this particular day Mr. Farron was feeling ill, which was bad since he had a formal dinner party he had to attend to. Mrs. Farron offered to go in his place. In order to attend, it's required to bring a family member. The two came up with a plan. Claire was to go with her mother while her father stayed to watch over Serah.

That's how Claire ended up wearing a long black skirt and a white blouse.

"You look beautiful Claire!" Mrs. Farron exclaimed. She smiled at her husband. "Don't you agree, dear?"

Mr. Farron stood from the couch, grabbed his daughter's hand and twirled her around so he could get a better look. As he let go, a big smile grew on his face. "You look illuminate."

"Luminate?" Claire asked as she titled her head in confusion. "What's luminate?" Her father laughed joyfully at her mispronunciation.

Serah climbed out of her chair and toddled her way to her sister. Pulling her into a hug, she started jumping up and down shouting, "Lumina! Lumina! Lumina!"

Mrs. Farron giggled at her younger daughter's action. "It sounds like Serah really likes that name."

Mr. Farron pried the girl off her sister and rested her on his hip. "Do you think that's her nickname?" he asked Serah.

She nodded her head so quickly and hard, her parents thought it would break soon. Her mother looked at her older daughter. "What do you think, Claire?"

"I like it," she answered. "It's a nice name, like my real name."

"Then it's official!" Mr. Farron announced. "You are also Lumina Farron!"

From that day, Lumina was born. She was the misbehaved side of Claire. When she did something to get in trouble, her mother referred to her as Lumina, which was often. For her father, he always called her Lumina, even if they were in public.

* * *

A couple of years later, Claire was eight and Serah was five, Serah broke her mother's favorite picture frame. Their parents were out of the house when the accident happened. Claire came running out of her room after hearing a large crash.

All around her sister was broken glass. Dumbly, Claire cleared the path for her by using her barefoot. A few shards became stuck in her foot causing her to wince.

After making sure her sister was safely out of the mess, Claire asked in horror, "What happened?!"

Serah sobbed. "I was skipping around the house when I bumped into the shelve. I didn't know the picture was going to fall."

The elder girl nodded, leading the distressed girl to the couch. As soon as she sat down, their parents walked into the room.

Mrs. Farron gasped as soon as she saw the mess on the ground. She looked up at her two daughters to see the youngest one about to cry. "Serah, did you do this?"

Before Serah could answer, Claire came to the rescue. "It's my fault," she said. "A cat got into the house from the window. I chased it around the house and knocked into the shelve. When the cat escaped from the back door, the frame broke."

"Lumina, how many times have I told you to keep the windows shut?" Mrs. Farron scolded her. "If you did nothing would be broke and you wouldn't have gotten yourself cut!"

"I'm sorry," Lumina/Claire apologized. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Mr. Farron, who stayed silent the whole time, finally sighed. "Lumina come with me while your mother cleans up the glass."

She nodded sadly as she followed him to the backyard. Her father motioned for to see down on the porch step. Once she did, her father kneeled before her and started pulling the shards out, making her squirm when she saw the blood. After pulling out the first one, he asked, "Why did you take the fall for your sister? And how did you really get the glass in your foot?"

Claire groaned. "How did you know?"

"Because you know better Lumina." Her father answered as he continued. "So why did you and how did you?"

She shrugged. "To protect her, I guess. I moved the glass with my foot so she'd have a clear path to walk through."

Instead of scolding her, he chuckled. "Well if you want to protect your little sister so much and without getting hurt, how about I teach you how to use my gun-blade?"

The once sad girl cheered up in a snap with a huge smile on her face. "Really?" she asked. When the father nodded, Claire enveloped him in a giant hug. "Thank you!"

Claire became a natural when she wielded the sword which shocked her father along with her mother and sister. Her father's boss, Lieutenant Amodar, watched her practice one day and was impressed that she was so young yet had the skills of a second year soldier. "If you keep this up, I'll be sure to have you part of the team, once you're of age of course." He once told her.

* * *

A couple of years later, when she was ten, she bored while practicing. That's when she was the birds on her neighbor's lawn. Smirking she shot at the birds to scare them off. After the first shot, the birds try to fly away. Claire pulled the trigger again, aiming the gun at the bird flying in front of the house. The animal was too fast, causing her to hit the window, braking it on contact.

Mr. Farron came running out of the house as the neighbor stormed her way over. "Look at what your daughter did to my window!" she screeched. "It's destroyed! That's the fifth time this month she did something harmful to my home!"

He glanced as his daughter to see her holding the weapon tightly in her hands, like she was afraid he was going to take it away. "What did you do this time, sweetie?"

"It's Lumina's fault!" Claire accused. "She wanted to train a different way so she shot at the birds. One of then flew away which caused her to hit the window. It was just a harmless joke!"

"A dangerous joke!" the neighbor corrected. "Someone could've been killed. And who's Lumina?"

"It's a nickname that we call her," Mr. Farron answered. "It's the bad half of her that likes to cause trouble."

"You're joking," she said. "That is so stupid! The child will go crazy thinking she is two different people."

He glared at the neighbor causing her to cower in fear. "I will pay you back for what she did, but don't you ever call my daughters stupid again."

The neighbor nodded before quickly running back to her house. He glanced once more at his daughter to see her head bowed down. "I'm sorry Dad." Claire muttered. "I should have been able to control her."

He ruffled his daughter's hair, which shocked her that he did so. "You'll just have to learn not to get bored while training, Lumina."

* * *

Another two years later it was a day away from Halloween. The family was walking around the mall looking for costumes."You should dress up as Lumina!" Nine-year old Serah suggested. "Don't you think it'd be cool?"

The twelve-year old Claire smiled widely. "That's a great idea! But what in the world would she wear?"

"I have an idea." Mr. Farron said. "Let's split up. I'll help Lumina with her costume and Serah, your mother will help with yours."

So that is what the four did. It didn't take long for the father and daughter to put together the perfect outfit.

Once the family was home, Claire modeled it for her mother and sister.

She was like a dark angel who only had one wing. The dress was sleeveless, mostly black with red here and there; the skirt was see through but there was black short shorts underneath. Over the dress was also a sleeveless black jacket, the inside of it being red, with an equally black feathers on the collar that ended a few inches under her knees. Once it hit her lower back it split in two. On her left arm, she's wearing a black lace glove with a dark blue flower bracelet.

"You look pretty!" Serah exclaimed. "And I love your hair!" Claire unconsciously ran her fingers through her side pony-tail.

"You do look beautiful," Mrs. Farron complemented as Claire twirled.

"Very luminate." Mr. Farron said with a smile.

Claire grinned leaning forward a bit with her hands behind her back. "You mean illuminate?"

Before they could go, Mr. Farron became extremely ill. The doctor, who checked on him, said he was going to die at any moment. The two sisters sat on each side of his bed, each holding one of his hands. At any moment they could burst into tears.

He looked at Serah. "Be a good girl. Listen to your mother."

Mr. Farron turned to his eldest daughter and tried to smile for her. "Protect your sister when I'm gone." He pulled his hand away from hers and rested it on her cheek as Claire's eyes start to water even more. "You will always look illuminate, Lumina."

His eyes closed as his hand fell. His breathing stopped. Serah let go of his hand to cover her mouth, tears flowing freely.

Claire shook her head violently as she grabbed his hand with both of hers. "Don't go!" she cried.

Mrs. Farron grew angry and pushed her away from her deceased father, hoping her daughter would stop acting so childish; all the push did was cause Claire to fall. That didn't stop her from getting on her knees close to the bed. She glanced at her father's dead smiling face.

A single tear fell from her face as she whispered, "Don't leave me alone."

* * *

After his death, Lumina slowly started to disappear. She disappeared all together when Claire's and Serah's mother died three years later.

"Claire, what are we going to do?" Serah asked a week after Mrs. Farron's death.

"Use the money to pay for the house," she almost immediately answered. "It'll work for a few years, but I'm not sure it will. That's why I'm going to work under the Guardian Corp after I graduate."

"You can't!" Serah exclaimed. "You'll get killed, Lumina-"

"Don't call me that!" the elder sister yelled at her. "She died when Dad did! And Claire's gone."

"What?" Serah asked shocked.

Her sister sighed as she walked to the back door. "Let's just forget that Lumina ever existed. It would save us the trouble and grief. And quit calling me Claire. She's gone, forever."

As she opened the door, Serah called out, "Then what should I call you?"

"Lightning." the fifteen-year old answer as she slammed the door shut behind her.

* * *

**_I'm thinking about making this story into a trilogy. _**

**_Anyways, I hope you liked it._**

Please review!


	2. Author's Note

p style="text-align: center;"emstrongThe sequel is up!/strong/em/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"emstrongIt is called Luminate!/strong/em/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"emstrongIt's under the category Final Fantasy XIII/strong/em/p  
p style="text-align: center;"emstrongHope you like it!/strong/em/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p 


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